Ridley Scott may go back to the drug trade at some point in the future. The director explored some ugly inevitabilities of the drug trade in The Counselor, and now he is signed to make a film based on Don Winslow‘s recent novel The Cartel.

The novel, which follows ten years’ worth of the diverging paths of two former friends, one in the DEA and the other in a drug cartel, is based in part on the story of Cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who has made global headlines since escaping from a Mexican prison earlier this month. While The Cartel won’t quite be an El Chapo movie, but it might be close.

Update: Following the initial report about this project, further info emerged saying that Leonardo DiCaprio is being courted to play the character Keller. More below.